Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2015
Department
Cell & Molecular Biology
Abstract
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and its relatives are regarded as top bioenergy crop candidates; however, one critical barrier is the introduction of useful genetic diversity and the development of new cultivars and hybrids. Combining genomes from related cultivars and species provides an opportunity to introduce new traits. In switchgrass, a breeding advantage would be achieved by combining the genomes of intervarietal ecotypes or interspecific hybrids. The recovery of wide crosses, however, is often tedious and may involve complicated embryo rescue and numerous backcrosses. Here, we demonstrate a straightforward approach to wide crosses involving the use of a selectable transgene for recovery of interspecific [P. virgatum cv. Alamo × Panicum amarum Ell. var amarulum or Atlantic Coastal Panicgrass (ACP)] F1 hybrids followed by backcrossing to generate a nontransgenic admixture population. A nontransgenic herbicide-sensitive (HbS) admixture population of 83 F1BC1 progeny was analyzed by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to characterize local ancestry, parental contribution, and patterns of recombination. These results demonstrate a widely applicable breeding strategy that makes use of transgenic selectable resistance to identify and recover true hybrids.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Heffelfinger, C., A. P. Deresienski, K. A. Nelson, M. A. Moreno, J. P. Hague, S. L. Dellaporta, and A. P. Kausch. 2015. Genomic Characterization of Interspecific Hybrids and an Admixture Population Derived from Panicum amarum × P. virgatum. Plant Genome 8. doi: 10.3835/plantgenome2015.01.0001
Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3835/plantgenome2015.01.0001
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.